If you have a serious chronic condition, can you extend your life by managing your medications as directed? The answer may be yes, at least in some cases. A recent study in Canada looked at how drug adherence related to mortality in survivors of an acute myocardial infarction. It examined 31,455 elderly survivors of this serious heart condition between 1999 and 2003. All patients filled a prescription for statins, ß-blockers, or calcium channel blockers, with the latter drug considered a control in the absence of proven survival benefits. Patient compliance was subdivided into three categories--high, intermediate, and low--and compared with long-term mortality. The results showed that long-term survival after a severe heart attack appeared to be related both to the drug prescribed and patient adherence to a treatment schedule. It was not, however, a result of adherence alone.

The relationship between the progression of a chronic illness and taking your medications is far more complicated than was shown by this study. However, the findings do suggest that in combination with proper medical care, your performance of self-management skills, such as taking any prescribed drugs as directed, may improve your health and prolong your life. Your health care provider needs to do his or her part in prescribing the best treatment regimen for you. However, it is solely up to you to do your part by adhering to in the instructions provided to here. This is where your performance of self-management skills can really make a difference.

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Jeppe N and colleagues. Relationship Between Adherence to Evidence-Based Pharmacotherapy and Long-term Mortality After Acute Myocardial Infarction..Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007; 297: 177-186.